In the spirit

I've been working on scrapbook layouts from last Christmas, using the December Kit from Rhubarb Roots. It's been a fun way for me to reflect on the changes in our family over the past year, and to get into the Christmas Spirit. We'll be heading into the city again tomorrow to (hopefully) finish our Christmas shopping, after we have breakfast with Santa. I love this time of year...the magic of kids getting so excited, spending time with family and friends, and taking time to reflect on what really matters.

Here are a few of my favourite creations:

learning something every day

The past week has been full of lots of learning opportunities for this guy. He had his last gymnastics class last week. It was amazing to see how much he's improved. He's able to do the stretches with very little help and few reminders, has learned how to somersault, and has overcome his fear of the balance beam! The evening ended with some fun parachute play, a cat and mouse game, which was right up his alley! His little sister had LOTS of fun playing with the big girls on the stage. We need to decide if we're going to do gymnastics again after Christmas. It was a lot of fun for him, a good opportunity to work on some motor skills and to interact with friends in a different setting, but it's pretty busy getting there for 6:00.

He's also been showing lots of progress at daycare again, making and playing with friends. He's had a few play dates with a little girl from his daycare and class at school. She even invited him to her birthday party and has brought him pictures that she's drawn! He'll be the only boy at her party, but he doesn't care...he was SO thrilled to get the invitation.

He's also had lots of new experiences at school. The unknown is always worrisome, but he's worked through it and enjoyed the experiences. This week has included a ballet performance, a guest speaker on how animals prepare for winter, and another math field trip to the junior high. We'll be meeting with his team this week (teachers, EAs, daycare worker, and child development support worker) about his education plan. It's been good to see him starting to move forward again, and it will be good to have the chance for all of us to have a chance to talk about our goals and to develop a plan for his learning.

Math, animal kindness, and a few creations

Was lucky enough to spend the weekend at my favourite scrapbooking store creating! Being back at work has definitely cut into my "me time" and my time to create, so it felt really good to have a chunk of time to do that, and it's motivated me to keep creating more often! My favourite layout from the weekend:














This guy was super excited today because he got to go to a math class, at the local junior high! I was a little worried that the kids would treat him like a bit of a party trick, but it sounds like they were just pretty excited by this little guy who could do their math. He learned some new math, but mostly just seemed pretty thrilled by the fact that he got to spend time with a boy who shares his interest in math! I'm so grateful to work with people who are so supportive and willing to work with us to find ways to celebrate his special gifts as well as work on his challenges.

And this one has been struggling with her temper lately, likely pretty typical 3 year old stuff...but we had some pretty long time-outs this weekend over intense tantrums because she did not have pink clothes to wear! I'm sure hoping it's not a predictor of teenage years. Thank goodness she is so fun and happy for much of the day :-)

She's 1!!!

I can't believe that just a year ago she was brand new! It seems like yesterday, and she's still my baby...but that will soon change I guess. She was all over the cake...even ate a little bit of it. I loved it when she leaned over and took a big chomp out of the cake!

It's good to see her feeling more like herself again! She's actually smiling, playing, and sleeping decently, instead of just crying and wanting to be held!

She had lots of fun with the wrapping paper and watching her brother and sister tear open her gifts. She liked the riding toy we got her, and pushed it across the room. I'm sure she'll be walking in no time! Of course her big sister soon took over and started riding it all over the living room!

L is turned into such a toddler...and such a little girl. We had the delightful experience of listening to 15 minutes of crying and screaming this morning because her outfit wasn't pink enough. It was pink...fuschia actually...but it had some white and blue stripes, which means it isn't solid pink...and fuschia is actually more like red than pink to this little girl! I'm not sure how she turned into such a princess... we've been pretty anti-princess, anti-pink in this house. Apparently that's come back to bite us in the rear end.

Our guy has been struggling a bit lately...not wanting to play with friends as much at daycare, getting stressed out pretty easily, and that means getting pretty emotional at times. It's tough watching him struggle, but at least there are bright spots in each day too...like seeing him so excited today for his baby sister's birthday, singing happy birthday to her, and playing so nicely with her.

We got his school pictures today...so cute! He did such a nice job on the portrait, but he looks a little confused in his class picture :-) He was really excited about surprising us with them when he got home today!

The kids have been asking for Christmas decorations lately, so I guess we might actually put some lights up on the outside of our house this year. G has been asking for the animated wire lighted animals...so it looks like our house may once again have deer on the front yard (when we were kids, and our grandparents lived down the street, the owners of our house used to have cement deer on the front lawn) ;-)

a little bit of this...and a little bit of that

A few odds & ends from the past few days:

1. Got some scrapping done this weekend (between cleaning & catching up on sleep) as part of an inspiring online crop, and an evening scrapping with friends from work. I've posted a few of my favourites here for you to see.

2. Spent Saturday evening hanging out and scrapping with friends from work. It was so nice to be able to spend some time just connecting. One of the things that I'm most grateful about being back at work is getting to spend time each day with these people...all amazing people -- fun, supportive, caring, and interesting! It's been an adjustment having less time for a social life, so I'm really thankful that I get to work with people who are so much fun to be with :-)

3. Turning the clock back was a killer in our house! I think lots of people look forward to the "extra sleep." For us, it just meant getting up an hour or so earlier than usual...which was obscenely early...somewhere around 5 a.m. So, it meant that Sunday afternoon looked like this so Mommy could nap for a little while ;-) Yes, he is wearing a mitten (just getting ready for winter...L needed to wear her mittens to bed last night), and no, L is NOT eating wipes...just snacking on Goldfish crackers.

4. It's getting cold out here! I'm thankful that winter weather has waited this long, but I never really look forward to cold weather. The first snowfall is always pretty, and I love spring (the warm sunny days with melting snow)...but I'm not sure the months of freezing temperatures are worth it. There was a dusting of snow on our van this morning, and a few flakes falling throughout the day, and it was windy, a really cold wind.

5. Hoping to do some Christmas shopping (and birthday shopping) this weekend. Can't believe it's already time for this, but I checked my calendar today and if we don't go this weekend, we won't be able to until December! (So, Auntie & Grandparents...send us your wish lists!!!).

6. Looking forward to this one's first birthday! Not sure exactly how we'll celebrate yet, probably just some cake with family (and the traditional big mess). She's doing "so big" in this picture, which she does every time we change her diaper.

7. And another pic, just because she decided she just HAD to have a photo taken of her eating ice cream ;-) Who knew ice cream could be THAT satisfying???

time passes

I can't believe that she's almost a year old! She's on the verge of walking, cruising around the furniture, letting go and realizing only a few seconds later that she's not holding on and plopping onto her bum, taking a few steps while holding onto my fingers. When she wants to be picked up, she crawls up to me, grabs my pant legs and stands holding onto my legs and shrieks.

She's getting more teeth. Three are through right now, 2 on the bottom, one on the top (and another one on top almost through). It looks like she's going to have her momma's big front teeth ;-) She lucked out with her dad's olive complexion and hazel eyes though! I'm hoping she'll get his curls too.

She's trying to talk...saying mama and dadda along with her many sound effects. She loves to blow raspberries & make car noises. She's learned the signs for milk and more, and uses them often. She's playing pat-a-cake & "so big" every time we change her diaper (until she decides to roll over & make a run for it). She giggles & screeches every time we play peek-a-boo.

She's also really tough...doesn't have much choice, being the youngest of three. Her brother & sister love to hug her, and also like to try carrying her (which looks more like dragging her) when I turn my back. She gets squashed a few times a day...more often than I'm sure she'd like, but the fact that they almost never make her cry can't help the situation.

She knows how to make sure she's heard. When she wants something, she sure can scream (I wonder who she got that from???). Most often the screams happen in the high chair...when she wants meat or yogurt (her two favourites), when we've missed her signs, or when she wants out.